Hotspot Wi-Fi Internet service has been touted for years, but so far revenue remains modest, partially because users and their employers hesitate to pay for just occasional needs at a limited number of hotspots. However, most users agree they need Internet service while they are on the road for a variety of reasons. The embodiments herein solve this problem by enabling some special servers to pay for the Wi-Fi access, so the access is free to users. Examples of such servers include real-time information servers such as Web servers offering airline schedules, travel-related Web servers such as those for travel reservation, direction, and local information, and business servers such as VoIP gateways, VPN gateways, and email servers. The embodiments can also be applied to other types of public Internet services.